National Express has given its strongest signal yet that it could be preparing for life outside of the British rail industry by landing contracts worth €1.6 billion to run trains in Germany.

The announcement that National Express is to operate commuter rail services in Cologne and Bonn comes as the company is in a stand-off with the Department for Transport over the current UK train refranchising crisis.

National Express, once Britain’s biggest train operator, has admitted that it is considering legal action against the DfT over the Transport Secretary’s refusal to compensate it for £10 million of wasted bidding costs